


nightmares

by dottie_wan_kenobi



Series: practice prompts [29]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Babies, Background James Potter/Lily Evans Potter - Freeform, First War with Voldemort, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, POV Lily Evans Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dottie_wan_kenobi/pseuds/dottie_wan_kenobi
Summary: Lily wakes up to Harry crying one night, and finds Sirius is already there.Written for the prompt, "Staying up half the night to finish a game with them."
Relationships: Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter
Series: practice prompts [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626685
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> another practice prompt done with my friend whateverrrrwhatever! this is not betad and honestly doesn't even follow the prompt that much but I'm sick of it just sitting in my files so! we're gonna post!  
> sorry abt that title, I couldn't think of anything better  
> JKR and all terfs can get fucked bye

When Harry starts crying, Lily takes a moment to stare up at the ceiling and talk herself out of feeling exasperated. He’s a baby, and babies cry, and he doesn’t know that his Mummy and Daddy are trying to sleep. Or, okay, that Daddy is sleeping off the effects of several healing spells and that Mummy is suffering from insomnia and is terrified if she falls asleep, James will be dead when she wakes up. All he knows is that he’s hungry, or cold, or needs his nappy changed, and that he needs one of them to help him fix it.

Sighing a bit, Lily sits up and slips out of bed, taking care not to wake James even though she’s sure he won’t come to any time tonight. When Sirius brought him home several hours earlier, he’d already been unconscious and other than a few brief moments of fluttering eyelashes and mumbled words, there’s been nothing.

He’ll be fine, she tells herself, making her way to the nursery. He’s not going to die.

It’s not very reassuring, but hopefully getting Harry back to sleep will be enough to calm her down.

Except, when she gets there, Sirius is already hovering over the cot, murmuring soothing words to no avail. He steps aside without her having to say anything, making space for her by Harry’s head. She stops half a step away, watching Harry hiccup and whine, refusing to let go of Sirius’ index finger.

Then he turns his head and sees her, and his cries take on a new pitch, his free hand reaching in her direction.

“Shh, shh, baby,” she comforts, leaning down and taking him into her arms. He takes Sirius’ finger with him, but lets go in order to grab her sleep shirt—one of James’, actually—and cling as hard as he can. Rubbing his back and gently bouncing him, she meets Sirius’ eyes. “Ohh, what happened?”

“Think he had a nightmare,” Sirius says, gazing with concern at the poor baby. “I checked his nappy, it’s clean. And it’s not time to feed him, right?”

“Right.” She’d given him a little snack before she put him down to sleep. Usually he can go the whole night after without needing to eat again.

Lily presses her cheek to Harry’s head, his hair tickling, his skin a little hot. She paces back and forth slowly, hushing and comforting him until he’s just laying on her chest, breathing against her neck, still holding on with a death grip.

It’s clear that he’s not ready to go back to sleep. It’s also pretty clear that she’s not going to be able to anyway. And Sirius—he’s staring past them, eyes unfocused, jaw clenched. There’s a cut on his forehead that he hasn’t bothered to fix up yet. Earlier, when she was crying and struggling to breathe, he pulled her into his arms, and he was shaking.

“Padfoot,” she says.

He blinks, coming back to reality. “Yeah? Want me to take him?”

She shakes her head. “No, he’s fine. But—do you wanna play chess?”

“It’s half one, Lils.”

“So?”

He smiles, an exhausted and small thing. “Alright, yeah.”


End file.
